OPM asks agencies to bid on payroll system

The Office of Personnel Management has begun a program to consolidate the government's payroll systems from more than 18 to fewer than a handful.

As a first step, OPM last month issued a request for responses to eight agencies that had expressed interest in their systems becoming one of the governmentwide payroll systems.

The agencies have until July 31 to submit responses, said Norm Enger, OPM's e-government project director. OPM is the managing partner of the E-Payroll initiative under the Office of Management and Budget's 24 e-government projects.

Some of the agencies weighing whether to bid are:

Agriculture Department's National Finance Center

Defense Department's Defense Finance and Accounting Service

General Services Administration

Health and Human Services Department

Interior Department's National Business Center

Veterans Affairs Department.

A source familiar with the project said OPM expects to receive four or five bids and then will select the best two or three. OPM will ask agencies to choose the system they want to use.

The cadre of systems is an interim measure, the source said. OPM plans to use the approach for about two years while it decides whether to build a new system, outsource payroll requirements or continue using the best-of-breed systems.